Former Manchester United defender and now TV pundit for Sky Sports Gary Neville has slammed the Premier League over their handling of the Coronavirus crisis.
On the day that saw a huge debate open up after the Professional Footballers Association reject a request for Premier League stars to take a thirty per cent wage cut, in a series of tweets, Neville described the Premier League’s handling of the crisis as a PR disaster.
“The PL are handling the CV crisis terribly” he tweeted adding the decision to play games over the first weekend of March was a mistake
He described club’s decisions on furloughing non playing staff as a PR disaster and criticised the League for turning on players publicly and trying to blindside them.
He also condemned them for non increasing funding for EFL and Non League
All stakeholders, he said, were unhappy with their approach
”Football has too many stakeholders with different interests. They all meet regularly/say they collaborate but when the “ s&&t hits the fan “ the PL have the power and go solo! It’s unraveling before our eyes. A re-alignment for all clubs , fans and the game would be welcome”
Neville has also been unhappy with the intervention of the Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week who during the Daily Press Conference criticised footballers over their approach to the crisis inviting him to appear on Monday nights football programme to discuss the issue.
His intervention followed that of another former Manchester United player Wayne Rooney who wrote about how the players have been ‘set up’ by owners and politicians.
Meanwhile in a statement released by the PFA, the players pointed out they did want to help out the Premier League clubs but would prefer to defer wages as opposed to taking an outright pay cut.
Their argument, aimed at Hancock, was that the taxman – and therefore the NHS and other services – would lose out to the tune of £200m if they accepted the 30 per cent pay decrease.
And in order to even defer wages, the players demanded the Premier League increase its £20m contribution to the NHS, furloughed staff at clubs were restored to full pay, and more money was given to the EFL and non-league hardship fund.
